The movie series Peter Jackson hates with a passion: “I don’t like those films”
Not to generalise, but since he’s recently become a billionaire, maybe it’s not a coincidence that Peter Jackson doesn’t seem to have any real impetus, hunger, or desire to direct another narrative feature.
While the old saying suggests that money doesn’t buy happiness, if most people woke up one morning to discover their bank balance had swelled to ten figures, you get the feeling they’d disagree. That’s not to say that money has made Jackson lazier, but it might well have made him more selective.
He hasn’t helmed a movie since he wrapped up The Hobbit trilogy over a decade ago, and at no point did anyone ever really believe that his heart was in it to anywhere near the same extent as it was on The Lord of the Rings, and it’s been almost two since he took the reins on a film that wasn’t set in Middle-earth.
Since 2013, he’s directed two documentaries, and they were both passion projects that dabbled in new technology. A lifelong World War I buff, They Shall Not Grow Old colourised and restored century-old footage, and as a devotee of the Fab Four, The Beatles: Get Back was another one close to his heart.
The only three theatrically released pictures he’s been a part of post-Hobbit are Mortal Engines, one of the biggest box office bombs in history, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which was only made so Warner Bros could keep the rights to JRR Tolkien’s stories, and the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which absolutely nobody is asking for.
If there’s one thing that could recharge and re-energise his creative batteries, it could be a return to the realm of lower-budget horror where he cut his teeth. It’s probably not going to happen, but you can bet there’d be a lot of folks thrilled to bits were the Academy Award-winning filmmaker to announce that he was heading back to his roots to channel the spirit of Bad Taste, Braindead, or even The Frighteners.
It’s been over 30 years since Jackson dipped his toes into blood-splattered waters, so it’s unlikely. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t in a position to comment on the modern complexion of the genre, and compared to how things were back in his day, he doesn’t sound entirely thrilled with what’s on offer.
“I call them ‘splat-stick,'” he explained of his signature brand of horror comedy. “We enjoyed being crazy and anarchic and upsetting the people we wanted to upset in those days.” He did exactly that, and those early movies helped put him on the map, but the 21st-century obsession with upping the ante in terms of violence, gore, and brutality is something that didn’t sit too well with Jackson.
“The Saw movies?” he added. “Well, I don’t want to be casting moral judgments, but I don’t like those films.” Even though it’s a billion-dollar franchise, he’s not alone. Saw is arguably the granddaddy of the torture porn movement, and out of the 11 instalments to date, maybe one of them is good, at a push. The biggest criticism is that they’re nothing but gore for gore’s sake, and while Jackson knows a thing or two about gore, he clearly doesn’t enjoy it when it’s used so gratuitously and sadistically.
